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Is my electrical system enough?


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I am getting ready to do my build and I want to make sure I am well prepared.  I currently have a 300a HO alternator and a Xstatic Batcap 2000 in the rear and just a regular Duralast Gold up front.  All 1/0 wiring throughout.  I am running about 3.5kw watts.  Will this be enough to support my system?  I will be playing with the vehicle powered on and will never play with it off.  I'm just wondering if I should get a different battery up front, add another rear battery or leave it as is.  I went with the Xstatic Batcap because I got it for a good price when I bought my alternator but after doing some reading I have read that it doesn't have much reserve capacity and is good for burps and not so much daily....not sure how true that is.  Thanks for any help!

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36 minutes ago, Thundera said:

I am getting ready to do my build and I want to make sure I am well prepared.  I currently have a 300a HO alternator and a Xstatic Batcap 2000 in the rear and just a regular Duralast Gold up front.  All 1/0 wiring throughout.  I am running about 3.5kw watts.  Will this be enough to support my system?  I will be playing with the vehicle powered on and will never play with it off.  I'm just wondering if I should get a different battery up front, add another rear battery or leave it as is.  I went with the Xstatic Batcap because I got it for a good price when I bought my alternator but after doing some reading I have read that it doesn't have much reserve capacity and is good for burps and not so much daily....not sure how true that is.  Thanks for any help!

Well, easiest way to tell, would be take the wattage you want, divide by the voltage your alt runs at, to get the full tilt amperage. So 3500/14.4 is about 224 amps. Leaving you with 76 amps for the car. What size Alternators as the stock alt? (Btw, this is very rough and not completely accurate. It is also counting on full tilt.)

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10 minutes ago, ALDJ253 said:

Well, easiest way to tell, would be take the wattage you want, divide by the voltage your alt runs at, to get the full tilt amperage. So 3500/14.4 is about 224 amps. Leaving you with 76 amps for the car. What size Alternators as the stock alt? (Btw, this is very rough and not completely accurate. It is also counting on full tilt.)

My truck is a 2011 Toyota Tundra...it has the tow package so the stock alt is 170a

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56 minutes ago, ALDJ253 said:

Well, easiest way to tell, would be take the wattage you want, divide by the voltage your alt runs at, to get the full tilt amperage. So 3500/14.4 is about 224 amps. Leaving you with 76 amps for the car. What size Alternators as the stock alt? (Btw, this is very rough and not completely accurate. It is also counting on full tilt.)

When I do this, I calculate at 3 different voltages. I calculate at 14v, the best voltage to have and were you always want to be. 13v or 12.5v, which is usually were people end up, to make sure that if that is were you rest while slamming you will be fine. Then last at 11v, so that way if for some reason you drop that low, you know if you will possibly risk any damage or not.

On 11/20/2012 at 8:54 PM, AMI CUSTOMS said:

Turned mine up today at a light, guy next to me his steering wheel started moving and he looked over at me like I was a magician lol.

On 5/9/2012 at 8:45 PM, skittlesRgood said:

fuck the plating. look at what the main metal used is. you could buy unicorn blood plated terminals but if its just covering up dog shit, whats the point

On 4/10/2013 at 12:26 PM, mrd6 said:

I'll admit, half way through sanding that fiberglass in the rain and cold while I was all itchy I was definitely starting to question why i was doing this haha

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If u have a 300 amp alt u are fine , I'm running 4K total on a 250amp alt but I also have 6 batteries and never drop below 13's. If u have a 170 amp alt just keep track of your voltage, buy a 5 dollar volt meter.

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2 hours ago, RooTxBeeR said:

When I do this, I calculate at 3 different voltages. I calculate at 14v, the best voltage to have and were you always want to be. 13v or 12.5v, which is usually were people end up, to make sure that if that is were you rest while slamming you will be fine. Then last at 11v, so that way if for some reason you drop that low, you know if you will possibly risk any damage or not.

Sounds good, sounds good.

3 hours ago, Thundera said:

My truck is a 2011 Toyota Tundra...it has the tow package so the stock alt is 170a

Okay, so the quote above is to calculate what amperage your sound system will pull. At full load, no sound system, your car would pull about 80% of what the stock alt is at everything on. So 170 × .8 is 136. Add that to the 224, you get 360 amps. BUT, remember, this is full tilt, everything on at once, such as headlights, high beams, inside lighta, engine going, ac, fans full blast windows and everything operating at once type of deal.

All in all, you will be we fine with the 300 h/o alt! Buy a volt meter, and just watch how it goes throughout daily usage. I'mean sure you don't roll around town completely blasting your stereo at full tilt with ac and very thing turned all the way up, and all accessories possible on.

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2 hours ago, Kyblack76 said:

I thought you said you had a 300 amp alt in your first post?

What amplifier are you running and wired at what load?

I asked him what his stock alt was, to see what his car would normally pull stock. Which is worst case scenario around 80% of stock alt capabilities (so I've heard)

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35 minutes ago, ALDJ253 said:

Sounds good, sounds good.

Okay, so the quote above is to calculate what amperage your sound system will pull. At full load, no sound system, your car would pull about 80% of what the stock alt is at everything on. So 170 × .8 is 136. Add that to the 224, you get 360 amps. BUT, remember, this is full tilt, everything on at once, such as headlights, high beams, inside lighta, engine going, ac, fans full blast windows and everything operating at once type of deal.

All in all, you will be we fine with the 300 h/o alt! Buy a volt meter, and just watch how it goes throughout daily usage. I'mean sure you don't roll around town completely blasting your stereo at full tilt with ac and very thing turned all the way up, and all accessories possible on.

I understand but also the stock atlernator is  over powered for my truck since it has the tow package.  The bigger stock alternator is accounting for having a trailer hooked up etc.  Thanks for the advice !

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3 hours ago, Kyblack76 said:

I thought you said you had a 300 amp alt in your first post?

What amplifier are you running and wired at what load?

Sorry I was asked what the amperage of my stock alt was.  It is a 300a HO alt.  The amp is a Twisted sounds ts3.5k wired at 1 ohm and a Twisted Sounds TS150.4 wired at 4 ohms using all 4 channels.

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